The Cure for Boredom

By David H. Roper

I would like you to turn again to the book of Malachi. Recall
with me. just briefly, something of the situation that occasioned
this particular prophetic writing. The Lord is concerned about
his people because they had lost that sense of God's love for
them. They found it very difficult to believe what Malachi said,
that the Lord really cared about them and was interested in them
in a personal way. The lord raised up this prophet in order to
show the Jews that he did have this sort of concern. and he calls
their attention to the fact that God had judged their enemies,
specifically the Edomites, as a token of his love. Israel, however,
said that the judgment of the Edomites was not a demonstration
of God's love because the situation in Israel was no better than
the situation in Edom. In both cases, the nations were depressed.
But Malachi says there is one significant difference. Though Edom
may say, "We will rise again." they never will. They
have no hope. They may try to rebuild, but God says, "I will
tear down." In contrast, the nation of Israel has a future
and a hope. God is going to fulfill in them everything that he
has promised to do for the nation. Israel's destiny, not its circumstances,
is the sign of the love of God. God is at work in the midst of
his people to conform them to himself, and he is going to fulfill
every promise that he has extended to the nation of Israel. It
is the living presence of God in their life that is the proof
of God's love. if they look at their circumstances, they might
question the love of God; but they were to look not at the situation,
but at the purpose that God had for them.

I learned just a few weeks ago that in Greek theater there
were two classifications of plays. They were classified either
as tragedies or as comedies. A comedy was a story that ended well,
with the hero and heroine receiving everything they should receive.
But in contrast. a tragedy ended tragically. No matter what happened
throughout the story. the play was classified as either a tragedy
or as a comedy, depending on the ending--not on the circumstances
throughout the story. It struck me, as I read that description,
that for us believers, life is a comedy. That does not mean that
we are going to laugh our way through life, because there are
many circumstances in life that are anything but funny Yet our
destiny is fixed and certain. and God is at work in our lives
to use even those tragic circumstances to conform us to the character
of God. Therefore, for us life is a comedy. But for those outside
of Christ, life is a tragedy. It does not matter how good their
circumstances may be. This is what God is saying through Malachi
to his people. God has a purpose for them. and he is at work to
fulfill that purpose. Israel can cling to the knowledge that nothing
is going to turn God away from that destiny. It is by that destiny,
and the active work of God in their lives that the Israelites
can see that God really loves them and cares for them.

Whenever people lose the sense of God's love, as did the Israelites
at the time this book was written, certain things begin to happen.
The first thing is that they fail to respond with love and warmth
to the Lord. If they feel that the Lord does not love them, then
it is very difficult for them to worship God acceptably. They
do not feel love, and so they cannot respond in a loving way to
the Lord. That was what was occurring in Israel. Their worship
was cold, for they had lost the sense of God's love for them.
The second thing that occurs whenever people lose that sense of
God's love is that their family life grows cold. Beginning with
verse 10 of chapter 2. Malachi speaks of the conditions in the
Israelites' families. Husbands and wives were unable to respond
in love toward one another, and so families were breaking up.
That section continues through verse 16. In chapter 2, verse 17
through chapter 3, verse 6, he describes what was happening in
society in general. This failure to recognize that God loves us
eventually pervades all of society; not our families only, hut
every aspect of life. He says in verse 5 of chapter 3.

"Then I will draw near to you for
judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers
and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely,
and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the
widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien, and
do not fear Me," says the Lord of hosts.

So all manner of antisocial behavior began to pervade the life
of this people because they had lost that sense of God's love.
It affects their lives in the temple. at home, and in society.
We arc going to look at each of these areas in successive weeks.

First, let's look at what was happening to the Jews' worship,
beginning with chapter I , verse 6.

"A son honors his father, and a servant
his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if
I am a master, where is My respect? says the Lord of hosts to
you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, How have we
despised Thy name?' You are presenting defiled food upon My altar."

Now this was a word that was addressed to the priests, although
the same words could have been addressed to all the people. It
is addressed to the priests because the priests were representative
of the nation, and stood in the place of the nation. Also, the
priests were condoning what the people were doing. It is obvious
what was occurring here. People were bringing blighted sacrifices
into the temple. Instead of bringing the best, they were bringing
the lame and blind and sick animals to be sacrificed. The priests
did not own flocks. They were not allowed to possess fields or
to own flocks of sheep, so it is not the priests' sheep, but the
sheep the people brought, that the priests were sacrificing. Therefore
the priests themselves were condemned because they were condoning
what the people were doing. Malachi is saying that the priests
represented all the people. And what was true of these priests
was true of the nation of Israel in general. All were guilty of
a perverted form of worship. He says that the priests were habitual
despisers of the Lord.

I am sure the priests' response would be to reject the idea
that they were despising the Lord. After all, their business was
to represent the Lord to the people. They were paid to be religious;
that was their function. They were going about their business
in a way that they felt was proper. They punched in at the temple
at nine o'clock every morning and stayed until five. They did
what they were told to do. Yet they are described as despising
the Lord. Their response, predictably, was, "In what way
have we despised the Lord?" The sacrifices they were bringing
were less than the best. In the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy
the nation was told the sort of sacrifice that was acceptable
to God. They were to bring the firstlings of the flock, the very
best. They were told not to bring an animal that was blind or
lame or sick, the very terms that are used here to describe the
offerings that the Jews brought. Malachi says, "In that you
condone these sacrifices and allow these people to bring something
less than the very best you are actually despising my name. You
are taking lightly the table of the Lord." Verse 7,

"But you say, 'How have we deified
Thee?" In that you say, 'The table of the Lord is to be
despised.'

What God wanted was the very best, the firstlings of the flock.
But they were using the best of the flock for themselves and were
offering only half-heartedly what God required.

The counterpart of their experience today is not the offering
of sheep and oxen, because we are not called upon to offer that
sort of sacrifice. The sacrifice that we offer today is ourself.
Paul says in Romans 12, "I urge you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service
of worship.The worship that the Lord looks for today is not the
worship through sheep and goats, pigeons and doves. The only acceptable
worship is ourselves, the offering up of our own lives to God.
That is the only logical, reasonable sacrifice, Paul says, the
only one that makes any sense at all, in response to what God
has done. The only sacrifice that is acceptable is the sacrifice
of the total self--body, soul, and spirit--to God. But so often
we respond as the Jews responded, giving God less than the best.
And we do so because often we are not aware of the love God has
for us, and what he has done for us in the cross. That was what
was happening in Israel. God said, "You're taking me for
granted. You're taking the sacrifice too lightly, offering only
a part when I want all."

He says an interesting thing in verse 8, which I think could
just as well be directed toward us.

"But when you present the blind for
sacrifice, is it not evil? [You see,
it is sin to offer less than we are.] And when you present
the lame and sick is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor?
Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?"
says the Lord of hosts.

The governor here was the Persian appointee, the political
leader of Judah. God says, "Would you offer this sort of
sacrifice to your leader? How would he receive you? Would he appreciate
it?" As I read this passage I thought, What sort of offering
do we make to our employers? That seems to be the counterpart
today. Would we make the same sort of halfhearted response to
the person who employs us that we make to the Lord? God is not
thinking of the amount of time that is required in order to fulfill
our responsibilities, but of our spirit. Many of us take very
seriously our responsibilities toward the people who employ us.
We spend a lot of time and effort and thought and dedication in
that area of our life, and we are motivated by a desire to please.
None of us would think of doing a job half way. We know more than
that is expected of us. Malachi says "Does God expect any
less? Does the Lord of the universe expect any less?" He
expects the whole man, not just a part of our heart, but the whole
man.

In verse 10, he says,

"Oh that there were one among you
who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle
fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord
of hosts, "nor will I accept an offering from you."

Do you see what he is saying? It would be far better to close
the gates, to shut down the temple, to stop offering, than to
offer this sort of worship. No worship at all is better than a
halfhearted sacrifice. That is an amazing statement when seen
in the context of Jewish worship. For the Jew, worship only happened
in Jerusalem. It had to happen there. God said, "That is
the city upon which I have written my name." Three times
a year Jews had to present themselves before the temple. Though
throughout their history they worshiped in high places away from
the temple, that was never acceptable. If they were going to act
strictly according to the law, they had to present themselves
at the temple. That was the only place worship could take place.
And God said it would be far better that you not worship at all,
than that you do so in this halfhearted way. Just shut the temple
down.

But God explains why it would be better to shut the temple
down in verse 11.

"For from the rising of the sun, even
to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and
in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and
a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among
the nations," says the Lord of hosts.

This verse has troubled many people, because it appears to
say that it does not really matter which God you worship, as long
as you are sincere. Acceptable worship can occur any place, any
time, to any god, as long as it is an acceptable worship. People
have used this passage to support that idea, but that is not what
God is saying at all. In the Authorized Version or in the New
American Standard, the verbs are translated in the future tense.
In the New American Standard, the expression "will be",
which occurs twice, is in italics, which indicates it is not found
in the original text, but is the translators--understanding that
this passage refers to some future event. It is clear that they
see this as a prediction of the time when the gospel would go
out to the Gentiles and the Gentiles would worship the Lord away
from the temple. And that is a possibility. The Revised Standard
translates this passage in the present tense, "For from the
rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations,
and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering,
for my name is great among the nations," says the Lord of
hosts. The present tense indicates these things were going on
at the time Malachi was written. Actually, the passage is ambiguous.
It is difficult to know exactly what Malachi meant, because there
are no verbs in the passage except in one place, and there is
no time in that particular verb. So it refers not only to the
time Malachi was speaking, but to some future time as well.

I believe Malachi is saying, "This is a truism, something
that is true in any time in history. Wherever you go, when you
find people who are worshiping God in an acceptable way, their
worship is pure." That would be astounding to a Jew of that
day. Oh, they knew that Isaiah and other prophets predicted that
eventually Gentiles would be included in the nation, but it would
be something absolutely new to think that at that very time, in
the fifth century before Christ, people outside of Israel were
worshiping acceptably. But that is what God is saying. He says
that there will be universal worship of the Lord, from the east
to the west, "from the rising of the sun, even to its setting."
Not only that, he says, but these Gentiles would be involved in
a priestly ministry, because they offer up incense. The only one
who was allowed to offer up incense in Israel was the high priest.
Not only that, but their grain offering will be pure. The word
used is not the word that is normally used for offerings that
were ceremonially pure. He uses an entirely different word that
has the idea of being acceptable, that God will accept your gift.

I believe God is saying that at any time in history there are
people who have a measure of truth. Perhaps these people have
heard through the message of the prophets or in some other way.
But they had some degree of the knowledge of God and they were
worshiping him on the basis of that truth. They were not doing
it precisely the "right" way; they were not doing it
in Jerusalem, or following the prescribed pattern. But their worship
was accepted because their hearts were right, their attitude was
right. God is saying, "You folks in Jerusalem believe that
you have the only way. You've got the temple and the priesthood,
and you feel that is the only acceptable place and way to worship.
But I would rather have someone else somewhere else worshiping
me in an entirely different way, but worshiping me in spirit and
in truth, than to have you worship correctly but halfheartedly."
In other words, the Lord is saying, "I like the way they
are doing it wrong better than the way you are not doing it at
all."

I believe the New Testament parallel to this passage is John
4. This is the well-known account of the Samaritan woman at the
well. Samaritans despised the Jews, as you know. They believed
that Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac at Mount Gerizim, not
Mount Zion. They worshiped God at Gerizim, not at Zion. And when
the Lord began to get to this woman, she (as we often do) engaged
him in a theological debate. If you want to stiff-arm God, one
of the best ways to do it is to discuss theology, as this woman
did in John 4:19-21. "The woman said to him, 'Sir, I perceive
that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain
(i.e., Gerizim); and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place
where men ought to worship.' Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe
Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem,
shall men worship the Father.' " Here he is speaking of the
cross, his own death, burial and resurrection. On the basis of
that action, Gentiles would be able to worship in any place.

Jesus continues in verses 22-24, "You worship that which
you do not know; we worship that which we know; for salvation
is from the Jews [Now listen to this!] But an hour is coming,
and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father
in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be his
worshipers. God is spirit; and those who worship him must worship
in spirit and truth." Looking forward to the cross, he says,"
The hour is coming," but then he says, "and now is,"
when God desires men to worship in spirit and truth. He is looking
forward to the cross, because it is on the basis of that cross
that men at any time in history can worship God in spirit and
truth. This was the basis by which Abraham worshiped God. He did
not know the name of Jesus, but the cross is a fact, not merely
of history, but of something that transcends history and includes
all of time. It gathers up all ages of mankind into one. And when
anyone responds to the truth that he has, and begins to worship
God truly in spirit, then that worship is acceptable on the basis
of the cross. And God takes the initiative to get more truth to
that individual until he comes to a full knowledge of God. It
has to be on the basis of the cross. That is why Jesus said, "The
hour is coming (That is true.) but now is." In any time in
history, when men and women sincerely seek God, that worship is
acceptable. It becomes God's responsibility then to get more truth
to them. God says, ''I would rather have someone who worships
me in the inner man, in reality, than to have people saying and
doing the right things, but in their hearts offering up only partial
worship." I believe that is what Malachi is saying. In the
words of the hymn, "What shall I give Thee, Master? Shall
I give part (or halt) of my heart, or shall I give all to Thee?"
That is what God wants, the totality of our being. He wants us
to say, in the inner man, "Lord, I'll do what you want me
to do, be what you want me to be; I'll follow you wherever you
want me to go." That is worship, true worship. John says,
"The Father seeks such to worship him."

But that was not happening i-n Israel. They were offering a
partial sacrifice, and they were bored to death with it. That
is why, in verse 13, it says,

"You also say, 'My, how tiresome it
is!'"

How boring! What a drag! There is nothing more boring than
trying to worship God when your heart isn't in it. It is far better
to shut the gates. It is far better to go play golf on Sunday
than to worship God when your heart is not in it. It is better
to do almost anything than to worship God with half a heart. It
makes for a tedious, boring round of activities. We have all been
through this. We have been doing things, teaching Bible studies,
going to Bible studies, reading Christian books, teaching Sunday
school, bored to death. What a drag! That was what was happening
with the priests. They just could not get into the sacrifices.
The daily round of offering these animal sacrifices was getting
to them. My, how tiresome it was. What a bore (verses 13-14).

"You also say, 'My, how tiresome it
is!' And you disdainfully sniff at it," says the Lord of
hosts, "and you bring what was taken by robbery, and what
is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive
that from your hand?" says the Lord. "But cursed be
the swindler who has a male in his flock, and vows it, but sacrifices
a blemished animal to the Lord, for I am a great King,"
says the Lord of hosts, "and My name is feared among the
nations."

Here is the same argument. If you go throughout the nations,
you will find men who are worshiping God acceptably; and I like
what they are doing, God says, even though they are not getting
the details right and may not be saying it the right way and do
not have the right liturgy. But their hearts are right. They fear
me, and that I respond to. Chapter 2, verse 1 continues,

"And now this commandment is for you,
O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to
heart to give honor to My name," says the Lord of hosts,
"then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your
blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you
are not taking it to heart."

Then God gives this very graphic description of what was happening
to the priests. There was a large table on which the priests sacrificed
the animals, and as they sacrificed the animals, the blood and
entrails, the refuse of the animals, would be spattered on their
garments. God says that when the priests go out to take the remains
of the animals to the garbage dump, they will be left with the
refuse. The people will treat you like garbage. Verse 9 adds,

"So I also have made you despised
and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping
My ways, but are showing partiality in the instruction."

When we do not take seriously our relationship to God, then
no one takes us seriously. We lose our impact upon our friends
and upon society. That is what Jesus meant when he said, "When
salt no longer is salty, it is good for nothing but to be thrown
out and trampled underfoot." And that is what happens to
you and me when we stop taking our relationship to God seriously.
We lose our impact on society. People are disdainful of us; they
ignore us. And my, how boring life becomes! We doubt that we have
any significance at all.

There seems to be a pattern that develops, as Malachi spells
it out for us. The priests did not respond to the Lord, and so
they did not respond wholeheartedly to his Word. They took it
lightly. And after awhile people began to take the Word lightly.
That is what it means in verse 8, "you have caused many to
stumble by the instruction (or in the law)." They actually
began to despise the Word, and eventually they began to despise
the messenger of the Word. They did not listen, they laughed at
him and treated him like garbage. It all began because the priests
did not take their relationship to the Lord seriously.

What a contrast to God's purpose for the priests, as he describes
it in verses 5 through 7.

"My covenant with him [with Levi, the father of the tribe of Levi] was
one of life and peace...

There was a sense of vitality to life. Life was peaceful and
quiet. The Hebrew term for peace has the idea of well-being. He
felt secure, vital, useful.

"...and I gave them to him as an object
of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. True
instruction was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found
on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and
he turned many back from iniquity."

Who of us does not long for that? To be the kind of person
who goes into difficult situations and is redemptive and instructive,
and turns people back. How often we go into those situations and
have no impact whatsoever. One of my favorite stories is about
a man who was visiting his friend in the hospital. The friend
was in an oxygen tent, recovering from a mild heart attack, and
doing quite well. As the man was talking to him, he noticed his
friend was beginning to show signs of stress. Asking for a pad
of paper and a pencil, the friend scribbled a note and passed
it to him. The man read the note, which said, "Please, Charley,
you've got your foot on the hose!" So often that is what
happens to us. We want to be helpful, we long to have a redemptive
effect on peoples' lives, but we are really causing them great
distress.

How boring life becomes when there is no significance in our
lives! We do all sorts of things to fill up the emptiness of our
lives. We take karate classes. There's nothing wrong with that,
but it won't make your life more exciting. It won't help to read
Discovery Papers, or to go to Bible studies, or become involved
in some Christian ministry. That is what we start thinking: "I've
got to get busy! I'll start a home Bible class. I've got to do
this, or that, or the other; and then my life will be vital. I
need more training." But it doesn't work. Our lives do not
become more vital, we do not have more impact; we just become
more and more bored with the truth that we receive. There is only
one answer, and he has given it in chapter 2, verse 2,

"Take it to heart, and give honor
to my name."

It is just that simple. Start by saying, "Lord, I'm yours."
Do it while you are washing dishes tomorrow morning, or diapering
the baby, or on your way to work. "Lord, I'm yours, all of
me, for whatever purpose you wish to put me to today." And
then you will discover that God will begin to show you some very
specific ways where you have to act out that submission. We like
to keep it in the theoretical, but God gets very specific. "All
right, here is where I want you to give me all of yourself."
Maybe it is just to be peaceful while you dust the house, or work
at a job that is terribly boring. Just accept that circumstance
and let God be God, let Him be Lord in your life in that circumstance.
Let him have all of you. That is the acceptable worship that he
looks for.

It is not merely here at church that we worship; we worship
everywhere. It may literally be at a sink full of dirty dishes,
when the last thing you want to do is to wash those dishes! But
you say, "Thank you, Lord, that this is the task that is
before me, and you can have all of me to accomplish this task."
That is worship, when we begin to take God's Word very seriously
in specific areas of our life. And that is the life that begins
to get exciting. God will bring into your life all sorts of circumstances
and people and events that, as a friend of mine says, begin to
put the fizz in the Pepsi! Life gets downright exciting. But we
start at the other end. We say, "Lord, you've got to do something
to make my life worthwhile," and so we start doing things
to add meaning to our life, and nothing works. God says, "Look,
start at the very heart. Give me the sort of honor that is due
me, and then I'll make life exciting for you." I was speaking
at a fraternity house a number of years ago, and a young Christian
student came up to me and said, "I want God to have my life.
I don't know what it's going to mean, but I want him to have my
life. I want to be used." I have seen that young man grow
in his relationship to God for seven years now. God has taken
him into some of the most exciting things you can imagine and
used him in a tremendous way to change the lives of others. It
began with a desire to let God be God in his life. That is where
we have to begin.

In the Old Testament there is an interesting account of the
call of Gideon, whom God called to deliver his people. He was
anything but a leader. He was hiding in a rock when the angel
of the Lord appeared to him and addressed him as a mighty warrior.
"The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!" The first thing
the angel required of Gideon was an act of worship. He had to
make a sacrifice. He brought what he had. The people were terribly
poor and poverty-stricken. They had been under siege for seven
years and had very little to eat. But Gideon brought all that
he had to the angel, who touched it with his staff, and the sacrifice
was consumed. This was a symbol, I believe, of the same issue.
Gideon brought his whole life, and the angel accepted it, because
that was acceptable worship. The very next night God called him
to tear down the Baal sanctuary in his father's house. His father
was custodian of the Baal, and so Gideon had to act in his own
home. That was the specific request that God made as a result
of Gideon's statement of his intention to serve God with his whole
life. Some months later, when the Midianites invaded again, God
told Gideon to call the people together. Although Gideon said
he was the least of his clan, and his clan was the least of his
tribe, and his tribe was the least of the tribes in Israel, when
he blew the whistle to collect the tribes, the whole nation followed
him. Why? Because he had demonstrated in his own heart and in
his own home that he was a wholehearted man. Isaiah 50:4 says,
"The Lord has given me the tongue of the learned, that I
might know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary."
That is what we all long for, that sort of tongue. The very next
verse says, "The Lord God has given me the ear of the hearer."
It starts with listening to God as he reveals himself, then responding
to that revelation. That is wholehearted worship. "God, here
I am." And then God will give you the tongue of the learned,
so that you will be a source of blessing and vitality and encouragement
to others.

Lord, most of us are sick and tired of dedicating ourselves
again and again. This is the sort of thing that we have done
repeatedly, and we realize that that is not what you want. What
you want is a submissive spirit, the willingness to say, "Lord,
here I am, in my weakness--and in my inability. I know that in
my flesh I cannot follow through, but here's my life, to do with
as you see fit. Strengthen me to be your man, your woman."
Lord, we thank you for the change that takes place in our life
and in others--as that becomes true. May it be true in our life,
Father. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.